On This Ride With You
by XOStayStrongOX
Summary: A continuation of my one-shot "When Things Go Wrong." It's now the introduction to this story and is featured inside. Selena had a pretty great thing going with her best friend Demi. Then suddenly a year later things began to fall apart and Selena is left in a dark place with depression and confusion. She doesn't understand why Demi suddenly hates her. More inside. Delena, Jelena
1. Summary

There wasn't enough room in the description box so here is the full length summary for the story.

_A continuation of my one-shot "When Things Go Wrong." Selena had a pretty great thing going with her best friend Demi. Then suddenly a year later _

_things began to fall apart and Selena is left in a dark place with depression and confusion. She doesn't understand why Demi suddenly hates her. Join _

_Selena as she fights to get her best friend back and tries to understand why the girl she loved and trusted with all her heart and soul suddenly turned _

_on her._

There will be a few trigger warnings in my story but i will let you know when they will be so if needed those parts can be skipped over.

any other information is mentioned in the intro.

Enjoy. :)


	2. Prologue

I guess on the outside looking in our friendship looked a little unconventional. She was 14 and I was 18 when we met, and on top of that she is my ex boyfriend's little sister. I guess when things started going bad between us it should have been for seen, but it wasn't; well mostly.

Here let me explain. From the moment we looked past our differences and started liking each other, yeah we hated each other at first, we were so close it was like we were attached at the hip. We did everything together: six flags, water parks, church trips, doctors appointments; you name it we probably did it together. Even with everything that went good though I always had a nagging feeling things would go bad, an I guess you could say I was right. One month things were fine and dandy and the next month things started going bad.

I was falling for her brother again. I guess that could have been part of the reason but other than that I didn't understand what happened between us. Shared events became a contest of who could ignore who the longest, fun times in our youth group became a struggle of having no fights throughout the night, spend the night activities became awkward and no fun, and simple conversations became one-sided especially over text message. I knew from the start I was losing her but every time I brought it up she'd either get defensive and deny it or it'd start a fight. After a while I kept my mouth shut.

Nights were the worst for me. While during the day I could keep busy, night-time my brain would be on over drive. I'd often spend nights crying myself to sleep unless I kept occupied and that's how my insomnia kicked in.

Then came the phone conversation we had about her brother. I wouldn't even call it a conversation really. I had decided to give him another chance. She was the last person I wanted to tell as it was but then she made the situation worse for me.

"Hello?"

"Hey, I need to tell you something"

"Ok, what"

"Don't get mad ok?"

"Look Selena I don't have time for this just tell me."

"I-I wanna date your brother again"

"Ok? I really don't care what you do Selena. I'm not your girlfriend. You don't have to tell me everything."

"What? You're the last person I told"

"Ok cool. I have to go, bye"

And with that the line went dead. I stared at my phone for a minute. She had never talked to me like that before. Her voice sounded of annoyance and what, hatred? I didn't even know nor did I understand. We always told each other everything and me think she's my girlfriend?! That was just ludicrous. We had always told each other everything. Why was now any different, because I was wanting to date her brother again?! Big fucking deal! I shrugged and dropped my phone. The following day her brother and I were dating again and Demi's reaction was far out of my mind. With her treating me so bad lately I really didn't give a shit what she thought anymore. I was back with the love of my life and she could just get over herself. I was going to enjoy myself no matter what.

If only I knew then though how much things would change in exactly a month's time. If only I knew things would go from bad to worse in just a blink of an eye and my world would be turned upside down with just one texting conversation.


	3. Chapter One: She Bit Me!

_"Believe it or not my senior year was my best year in high school, though people tried to make it miserable."_

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><p>I was supposed to be home schooled my senior year. I moved here from my home town when I was in 8th grade. Between being judged for no reason, bullied, treated like shit and on top of that being in special ed for an attention disorder, you could say I really hated school. During the summer before my senior year I had explored a homeschooling option where I could go into a class every Monday get my work packet and go home to do it. I'd only go to the classroom for help, to take tests, turn work in or take work home. When I was going to start though, my dad lost his job. There was no way we'd be able to pay for the home school program then. So here I was stuck in this hell hole of a school. People here were snobby, stuck up and I still had to deal with bullies on the regular. Needless to say I hated this place. Ok, so maybe it wasn't complete hell, I had a few good times but those were fewer and farther between than the bad.<p>

The majority of the first half of the school year was fairly uneventful. Though I had an occasional run in with a bully that liked to give me dirty looks and liked to call me a bitch, I won't bore you with details. Even though a majority of the first half was uneventful, one big event did happen almost two months into the new school year. It happened during third period lunch class when I had art. I had made a few acquaintances in my class. Actually we got along so well the teacher had to split us up for talking too much, which was ironic since I generally kept to myself in a class especially while working. I guess they brought out my outgoing side. I never ate with any of them though. At lunch, we separated to hang out with our other friends.

Four lunch blocks occurred during third period so technically third period classes lasted two hours. First block lunch was during the first half hour, second block during the second half hour and so on until all classes had lunch.

Anyways, since art class was located in the front of the school, we had first lunch. When the bell rang at the end of second period we went to our third period class to put down our stuff and when the last bell rang, (there's a warning bell first) we went straight to lunch.

Soon as the bell rang that day I grabbed my sack lunch and headed straight to the cafeteria to meet up with my group of friends. There was four of us in all including myself and ironically we were all loners in a way. I know loners don't usually hang out with people guess we were back-assward, but since we were loners we sat away from the tables. We had out own little spot next to the double doors that lead to the snack machines, C Hall and the outside door that lead to a separate building. Yes all our halls were lettered but whatever.

I arrived to our spot first since my class was right next to the café and I didn't have to buy my lunch. My friend Raquel showed up right after I sat down as she brought her lunch as well.

"Hey what's up?" I asked as soon as she sat down.

"Not much." She responded as she opened her lunch bag.

"The usual?"

"Yup." I giggled as our other two friends Haley and Kayla approached from the lunch line.

"What's up dick heads!" Haley exclaimed as she sat down next to Kayla who sat down next to me.

I rolled my eyes as Raquel answered for the both of us which thankfully went unnoticed by Haley. See Haley was that obnoxious, blunt, inappropriate friend every group had. I didn't really like her much but I cut my losses anyway when it came to her. In other words, I put up with her so I wouldn't be by myself during lunch. Sounds odd since a spend a majority of the school day on my own than with friends but I guess being by yourself can get old.

Kayla and Haley spoke to each other while Raquel and I ate and listened. I had to look around Kayla's head to look like I was paying attention or talk to Haley because we were basically in a line along the wall. Kayla to my left, Raquel on my right and Haley to the left of Kayla.

As I finished up my last peanut butter cracker I reached into my bag to get my gushers. Upon seeing me get them out of the corner of her eye, Haley stopped mid sentence to grab then from me. I gave her a funny look. See every single day Haley stole some of my food. Sometimes it was gushers other times it was my chocolate pudding. She had her own lunch but still liked to steal mine.

Frankly, I was getting real tired of her taking my food. I wouldn't mind sharing but taking the whole thing, not cool. Today I decided to do something about it which turned out to not be such a good idea. I reached across Kayla and grabbed the gushers back. I had to be careful since they had already been opened. When I had the gushers in hand, Haley grabbed my arm and bit me. Yes bit me just under my wrist on the back of my forearm. I stared at her wide-eyed. It didn't hurt because she wasn't biting hard but I didn't like it either. I reached over with my other hand and hit her across the forehead hoping she's stop. That quickly back fired as she started biting harder. I yelped as Raquel looked on not sure what to do. Kayla on the other hand was laughing. After about ten seconds of trying to get out of Haley's grasp, she released my arm. I pulled it back to me and stared down at the teeth marks in my arm completely bewildered. I couldn't believe that had actually happened over some damn gushers. What the actual fuck?! I kept my eyes on my arm as I listened to Haley and Kayla laugh. They were both looking at my arm too.

"Look all if your teeth left a mark." Kayla snickered.

"Yeah, looked how fucked up the marks looked. My teeth are so jacked up." They both laughed hard at Haley's remark.

I on the other hand just sat there. I was suddenly no longer hungry. I held my arm to my torso and faced away from Haley and Kayla not really staring at anything in particular. I really didn't want to deal with Haley anymore.

"You ok?" Raquel asked upon seeing the probable far away look in my eyes.

I just nodded my response. I didn't even look at her. I just kept staring at nothing. I had already decided I wasn't going to tell anyone what had happened. I'd just tell my mom what happened when I arrived home in a few hours.

I soon zoned out and didn't speak the rest of lunch. Twenty minutes went by, at least I think it was that long, before the bell rang signaling us to head back to class. I noticed then one of my acquaintances had been sitting along the wall across from us. I wondered if she had seen anything. I decided to find out. I slowly got up and made my way to the nearest trash can. I threw away the rest of my lunch and slowly trudged back to class. When I approached the art hall, I found my friend again and followed behind her.

"Hey, did you see what happened back there during lunch?"

"No I didn't sorry."

I nodded as we approached the classroom door. It was then I realized that the bite area was starting to feel agitated.

_'Shit'_. I thought I had forgotten I had sensitive skin. The bite was starting to itch. By now it had turned real red. It was beginning to look more like a rash than a bite. I then had second thoughts on not telling anyone.

'_Maybe the nurse would have something for it._' I thought then as I made my way into the classroom.

As everyone else went to their seats, I approached the teacher. I was holding the bite so she couldn't see. Hopefully she'd just let me go.

"Can I go to the nurse?" I asked nervously when I approached. I wasn't used to this new teacher yet so even just speaking casually made me nervous; sucks being painfully shy sometimes.

She gave me a funny look. "You just got back from lunch. You should have gone then you'll just have to wait."

"Well-" I trailed off not sure what to say. I uncovered the bite then and looked down at it. The teacher followed my gaze.

"Oh my goodness!" She was shocked now that she had seen the reason I wanted to go to the nurses office.

"Go ahead go. Be quick." She said then shooing me toward the door.

I turned quickly and rushed to the nurses station. I was more used to the nurse. I had known her since the tenth grade when we all (the tenth graders at the time) transferred to this high school from the ninth grade academy. (Long story.) I had allergies so I was in the nurses station on occasion because of them.

I quickly made my way in. Thankfully she hadn't started her lunch break just yet or I would have had to knock or sit in the hall and wait.

The nurse turned around from whatever she was doing when she heard me enter. "Ah, Selena. How are you? What brings you in today?"

"Someone bit me" I answered quickly.

"I'm sorry, what?" She asked me with confusion showing in her shocked facial expression.

"Someone bit me." I repeated though I was pretty sure she had heard me the first time. I uncovered the bite again to show her. I had unknowingly covered it again with my hand during the short walk over from the art room.

"What in the world?! A student did this?" She asked completely bewildered as she studied my arm she had carefully brought to eye level.

I nodded not wanting to speak again. I was feeling pretty upset now. I didn't think I was going to cry but I didn't want to take my chances.

The nurse released my arm. I'm going to have to report this Selena. Go wash it at the sink and then take a seat over there while I call the assistant principal. I nodded again and turned to make my way to the sink on the other side of the room. When I finished, I made my way to the blue chairs that were in a line up against the wall. I sat in the second one closest to the door I had entered from as the nurse picked up her phone. I had my hand over the bite again as I looked at all the charts around the room. I had seen them all already but I didn't know how long I'd be waiting.

"I need to report a student incident..." I heard the nurse say into the phone. I didn't catch what else she said because I zoned out again. The click of the phone seconds later snapped me out of it though.

"Mr. Weeks will be here in about five minutes."

"Ok." I responded quietly. My mind was racing now. I had never been in trouble before. I was a little nervous about the assistant principal coming even though I hadn't done anything. Just being around any of the front office faculty made me nervous really. None of them really knew me, which I suppose is a good thing, so I guess I'll be ok.

Mr. Weeks quickly walked into the office minutes later. He was a middle-aged man with graying short brown hair. He was only a few inches taller than me and looked to keep in shape. He wasn't really ripped or anything but he didn't have much of a gut either.

"What seems to be the problem?" He asked the nurse upon entering the room. He seemed nice enough but that didn't really put my nervousness at ease. I had seen him around school at times and other kids said he was nicer than the other assistant principal Ms. Medor or whatever her name was. I was still nervous none the less.

"A student seems to have bitten Selena." The nurse answered gesturing toward me. I was still sitting in one of the blue chairs.

"Who bit you?" He turned in my direction and leaned his back against the wall next to the doorway. I noticed then that he had a clip board with him as he moved it to tuck under his arm.

"Haley." I responded. I was still speaking quietly unsure of what was going to happen.

Mr. Weeks' eyebrows came together unsure of who I was talking about. "Haley who?" He asked then. I guess I should have included her last name. There were probably at least 50 Haley's in this school as it was a common name. Come to think of it, I probably knew at least 5 if not more.

"Haley Peterson." I decided on my own to speak a little louder to make sure he could hear me.

"Haley Peterson, huh." He seemed to know who she was. Go figure. "She's a senior right?"

I nodded. "I think so. She's a senior or a junior." As I thought about it, I wasn't completely sure if she was a senior. I was unsure if she had maybe gotten held back after I met her in tenth grade.

He nodded. "I believe she is a senior. I'll figure it all out when I call her to my office in a bit. In the mean time, I need you to write a statement." He walked over to me and handed me the clip board he had held under his arm. It already had a sheet of paper already on it and a pen. All I had to do was fill in the blanks: my name, the date, what grade I was in, what happened, that kind of thing. I reached up taking the clip board from him. He looked at the bite as I took it.

"Wait, so it was a senior that did this?!" The nurse exclaimed when she realized Mr. Weeks and I had said Haley was a senior at the school. "I thought it was a ninth grader or one of the preschoolers that had done this! That's crazy!"

My high school offered a preschool program located in the back hallway of the school. Some high schoolers took classes there. The class was mainly for students that wanted to be teachers or daycare workers one day. I had taken the class in eleventh grade. I was done with the class now. It was too much for me to handle. At this point though, I wished it had been a preschooler that bite me. This was getting embarrassing.

I quickly filled out the paper as the nurse and Mr. Weeks spoke to one another. They collectively decided it'd be a good idea to call my mom so the nurse did that too. I was filling out the part where I explained what happened and I was about to tell the part where I had hit Haley when a thought hit me like a ton of bricks. I wondered if I'd get into trouble for that. It'd piss me off if I did. Then I remembered it was for self-defense and I needed to tell all the truth because Haley would probably tell Mr. Weeks I hit her anyway. It would probably be better for me if he heard it from me first. At the very bottom of the page I had to write anyone who had witnessed what had happened. I quickly wrote down Raquel's and Kayla's name and then handed Mr. Weeks the clipboard back. He scanned the page.

"Is Raquel a senior as well?" He asked me.

"Yeah." I nodded my head.

"What about Kayla?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure what grade she's in." I really had no idea. I didn't know much about Kayla at all except her name really. She was Haley's friend after all having only been introduced to Raquel and I at the beginning of the school year.

Mr. Weeks nodded his head. Then he had me verbally recount to him what had happened. By then my mom had arrived anyway so I would have to tell the story again anyway.

I hesitated a moment again when I got to the part about hitting the girl.

"While-while she was biting me, I reached over and smacked her across the forehead. Then she started biting harder."

"Could she have been playing?" My mom asked then.

"I don't know. It didn't seem that way but she could have been for all I know."

"And another student did this, a senior not a child?!" My seemed to be just as shocked a the nurse had been.

"Yeah another senior not a child."

"Was she special needs?"

I shook my head. My mom came over to look at my arm.

"No, the student is not special needs." Mr. Weeks answered my mom. "I've had some issues with the student in the past but never something like this." The man then turned to the door. "After I review the statement and speak to the witnesses, I will call Haley to my office for her punishment."

My mom had turned from my arm while Mr. Weeks was speaking. As soon as he said what he had to say, she asked, "What kind of punishment will she receive?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that but she will probably get some sort of suspension."

With that, the man walked out of the room. My mom turned back to look at my arm and I finally looked again too. I had been in here now for about thirty minutes and hadn't paid much attention to it since Mr. Weeks had arrived. It looked mostly the same. It was red, irritated and you could still see the teeth marks. The only difference was now the area was a little swollen. Thankfully no skin had been broken so there had been no blood so I guess this could have been a lot worse.

After a few minutes of talking with my mom, the nurse gave me a bandage and sent me back to class. I had been given the option to go home early but had decided against it. Third period was almost over now and fourth period was the last period of the day so I chose to stay.

I walked into class and sat down. Everyone was still working on art projects that we had started sometime the week before. I got my things and began working.

My friend Krystal looked up from her work when she noticed I had finally returned to class. She was a ninth grader but we had hit it off pretty well. Actually the class was made up of kids from different grades. While core classes were usually done during certain grades, extra-curricular classes had kids from all grades. Our school was confusing.

"Dude, where have you been?"

I looked up from my work. "Nurses office."

"How did you pull that off?" Krystal asked confused. "Ms. Thompson never let's us out of class for anything!" She exclaimed referring to our weird art teacher. Our two biggest rules were no leaving class for any reason except for emergencies. That's what lunch was for. And we couldn't talk either. No one really paid attention to rule two though.

"I had an emergency." I said showing her my arm. "Someone bit me at lunch."

Krystal gave me a funny look. "Seriously?!"

"Someone bit you?" A random boy asked from the end of the table on my left side.

"Yeah." I answered as I nodded my head.

I seemed to be gaining more attention from other kids sitting around Krystal and I as I told the story yet again.

"That's just weird." Someone said when I finished.

"No kidding." I responded to whoever spoke.

Most of these kids didn't seem to know who Haley was so I must have been sitting around under class-men. 'Oh well.' I thought. This didn't need to get around anyway.

Ha this is high school of course it'd get around. Of course I didn't think about that then.

Minutes later I was being checked out. I was confused. I had told my mom I didn't want to go home early.

"Why am I being checked out?" I asked my mom as I approached her standing form at the front doors of the school.

"I called your doctor he said you should come into the office. It's just a precaution."

I groaned loudly as we walked out the front doors.

_'Its not like she gave me rabies_.' I thought to myself.


	4. Chapter Two: Him

_**i decided to be nice for about five seconds so here is chapter two. dont get used to it haha!**_

_"He was always a mystery to me."_

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><p>The following day, I went to school with my arm wrapped in an ace bandage. The bite was looking better but i didn't want to take my chances. I didn't want anything to happen to make it irritated or whatever. I quickly found out in my second period English class that more people knew what had happened the day before. Some people asked if I was the girl Haley had bitten while others asked if they could see it.<p>

At lunch, I stayed away from Haley. I sat in a completely different spot on the other side of the cafeteria. I was still on the floor against the wall but at least I was away from her. Raquel did end up coming to sit with me which I was grateful for. I told her everything that had happened the day before and we laughed and I apologized when she told me that being called to Mr. Weeks office had scared her a bit. Near the end of lunch though, Kayla came over to us.

_'Great.'_ I thought. She sat next to Raquel and in front of me. Raquel did more talking than I did telling Kayla what I had just told her.

"You went to the doctor for that seriously?!" She asked incredulously.

"I didn't even know I was going to the doctor!" I exclaimed. "I had no choice. He told me a human bite is the worse you can get bacteria wise and gave me an antibiotic for it just in case. He said though since she didn't break skin I'd be fine."

"I joked that Haley gave her rabies." Raquel told Kayla while laughing.

"Well Haley is mad at you." Kayla said turning back to me after Raquel stopped laughing. I don't think she found the rabies joke too funny.

"What for?" I figured she would be mad really but I asked anyway. I didn't really care to be honest. I was done putting up with Haley's stupidity.

"She said you lied and didn't tell the whole story." I stared at her funny. "Haley claimed to only be playing and that you probably didn't tell him you hit her since you got off without getting into trouble."

I continued to stare at her for a second my eyes wide. "I did to tell the truth and how was I supposed to know she was playing?!" I exclaimed a little too loudly. Thankfully everyone in the café was louder than me or I was pretty sure people would be staring right now. "I straight up told Mr. Weeks I slapped her across the forehead and he didn't say anything."

"She wasn't biting hard until you hit her. That's how you should have known. She now has three days OSS and ten days ISS cuz of you."

"Serves her right." I thought to myself.

On the outside I just shrugged. "Oh well." With that the girl got up and walked away. I think she was mad at me now too. She and Haley would probably also hate me now as well. 'Get in line,' was my thought to that.

"Mr. Weeks seriously said nothing to you hitting her?" Raquel spoke up after Kayla was out of sight.

I nodded. "Wow." She said.

I shrugged again. "Guess it pays to be the kid that never gets into trouble compared to the one that's always in trouble."

"True."

Seconds later the bell rang to return back to class.

"Hey, Selena?" My friend that had been sitting across from me at lunch the day before had approached me upon getting back to class.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know I did see what happened yesterday. I wasn't sure what you were talking about when you asked but when I heard you telling Krystal what happened I knew. I just wanted to let you know that as soon as class let out yesterday, I went to Mr. Weeks and told him what I saw."

"Thanks." I smiled. "What did you see anyway?" I was curious now.

"I didn't see a lot just her biting you and you hit her." She laughed.

I laughed too. "Oh ok."

We went to our respective seats after that. I didn't see Haley much after that. I did a little but for the most part I stayed away from her and she stayed away from me. Which was good actually because that's what I had been instructed to do by my mom.

I did see her though one of the days she had ISS. ISS kids have lunch about thirty minutes before everyone else. It's only them on the cafeteria and they can't speak amongst themselves. I saw her as I walked by the café. I had run an errand for my teacher. When I saw her sitting there and I smirked in her direction. I don't remember if she saw me though.

After that, the rest of the semester went without a hitch. I ended up finding some other friends to have lunch with and lunch became fun again. Avoiding Haley turned out to be a lot easier than I thought. Of course I guess it could have been because she no longer wanted anything to do with me.

Before I knew it, Christmas break came and went and it was the start of my last semester in high school. I should have been excited but deep down I was more nervous than anything. I had no idea who I had classes with and since I had done a pretty good job at making enemies the last four years, I was scared to death.

The first three classes were fine, then came lunch. I was in chemistry class now and had second lunch. I walked calmly to lunch when the bell rang. I walked into the cafe and froze. There across the cafeteria was my ex best friend and bully (same person) from tenth grade. Well, fuck. Her name was Lidia. She and another girl had made my life a living hell in the tenth grade. That though is another story for another time. Needless to say, I wanted to avoid her more than Haley.

After wandering around for a minute looking for a place to eat, I found some old friends to sit with. I quickly ate and did my best to socialize but the whole time I was internally freaking out. As soon as lunch let out I bolted. Maybe I was just being paranoid but the whole situation just made me very uncomfortable.

Soon my last period class rolled around. Thank god. I started feeling relieved as I sat down in my history class. I soon figured out I relaxes too quickly. Minutes later, the second girl who made my life a living hell in the tenth grade walked in and right behind her was none other than Haley Peterson. Fuck my life. I internally groaned and put my head on my desk over my arms. This was going to be a long semester.

Several weeks went by, I rarely looked at Haley and Viktoriya (the other girl) as they were in the back of the classroom and I was in the front but there were several times I heard them talking about me and laughing. I rolled my eyes the first time I heard them. One of the times, they were talking about the incident that happened with me and Haley. I giggled with my friend that was also in the class next to me when I realized what they were talking about. They were pathetic.

See after years of bullying, you learn to just let stuff roll off your shoulder. The way I look at it their lives are so pathetic and boring they need me to livin' it up. Bonus for me, like me or hate me you're still thinking about me. Ha, jokes on you bitch.

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><p>One day during lunch, things got interesting. It started in my chem class. I had made a new friend, I know shocker right. Her name was Ashley. I found it funny though because she only ever spoke to me. She rarely even spoke to the teacher only nodding her head yes or no when he asked her a question. I felt special, insert grinning face here. We met a week or two before when we were partnered up for projects and I guess we just hit it off.<p>

"You spend a lot of time in the library don't you?" She asked me out of the blue.

"Sort of." I answered. Let me explain. In the days after learning lidia was in my lunch block I had been doing what I could go avoid her. The friend I ate with was generally more interested in talking to his friend than me. It didn't bother me much but even just being in the cafe starting making me feel uncomfortable. After a couple days, I started going into the library as soon as I finished eating. Thankfully the library was located at the end of the cafe so it didn't matter if we went there just so long as we made it back to class when the bell rang.

"Well I have a friend I want you to meet." Ashley said breaking me out of my thoughts. Oh boy.

"Ok." I answered against my better judgment. "I'll meet you in there right after I finish eating."

"Ok, cool."

The bell rang seconds later. I thought I'd be feeling nervous but in reality I'm not. Ok maybe a little but I had decided to go with it. No backing out now.

I finished my lunch in twenty minutes and made my way to the library. I now had ten minutes left of lunch block. I walked into the library and immediately looked for Ashley. I quickly found her and walked over. She was standing in the fantasy section with a boy dressed in all black. The friend was a boy? Now I was nervous.

I walked up cautiously. "Hey Ashley."

"Hey Sel. So I'd like you to meet my best friend." She motioned to the boy behind her. "This is Justin."

"Hi." I said waving kind of awkwardly. He stepped from behind Ashley to stand in front of me. Ashley then walked away.

_'Thanks a lot.'_ I thought. 'Just leave me_ here with someone I barely know.'_ She didn't go far but I still didn't like it too much.

"Hey." The boy said to me regaining my attention.

I smiled and we introduced each other though we basically knew each other's names now. I found out though that he was in the ninth grade but was sixteen. He had been held back a year and had a late birthday. After that I kind of zoned out as he spoke. I was studying his face and eyes. He had soft but piercing brown eyes. I felt an instant calming as I looked I to them. He had short dark hair and was clean-shaven. I studied him some more. I hopped he didn't notice I was no longer listening to what he had to say. He didn't seem to though as he babbled on. I guess he was nervous. I noticed he was wearing a dark-colored t-shirt with a long black jacket. He had gloves on with the fingers cut off. He wore dark-colored jeans and black shoes. I'm thinking he likes black. I looked back up to his face. He was a handsome boy. I wondered then if he had a girlfriend. Whoa hold up Selena. A guy like him probably is taken and he is younger than me. It was only by two years but I hadn't dated anyone more than a year younger than I was. Maybe it was my insecurities talking but I thought right then we could never be more than friends. There was no way he'd like me that way.

Soon the bell rang and we said our good byes. I walked back with Ashley.

"So what'd you think of him?"

"He seems nice." I answered quickly. I didn't really have an accurate answer. I hadn't been listening. Oops.

The next day, I finished lunch faster than I usually did. I went to the library like I always did but Justin wasn't there and neither was Ashley. I felt a little disappointed but shook it off. I went and looked at some books and picked one out. He never showed and I went to check out the book. The bell rang after I finished and I made my way back to class by myself. In the middle of the hall near the double doors I saw him again. I felt my face brighten when I saw him. He was walking quickly when I saw him though and walked right passed without seeing me. I frowned to myself. I guess he didn't see me. Of course though as quick as that thought entered my head, my insecurities kicked in.

_'I guess he didn't like me after all.'_

Fuck my life.


	5. Chapter Three: No

_**I've decided every time I write a new chapter for this story, I'll post a new one. It won't be the one I was recently writing of course since I've been writing this story for a bit now. Like I'm posting chapter 3 but I just finished chapter 11. I've also decided to put a quote, my own quote, at the beginning of each chapter as a clue to what it'll be about.**_

_**Sue: I don't like him either but he meshes with the story and is in it for a reason. You'll see why soon.**_

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><p><em>"I liked him from the start, though I never actually told him that."<em>

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><p>Ok so I shouldn't have let my insecurities get to me. It was the next day and when I walked into the library there was Justin and Ashley. We were laughing and having fun. We had to continuously make sure we weren't too loud but boy we were having a ball. Most people wouldn't have fun like this in a library of all place but what can I say we were different.<p>

I hadn't to see all this end when the bell rang but we had to get back to class. Ashley and I walked back together still laughing. When we sat down, her in the very first seat, me one row over and the seat right behind her, she turned to me.

"Would you like to have lunch with us tomorrow?"

I grinned widely. "Sure!" I exclaimed happily. I couldn't wait.

Thankfully for me the day went by quickly and before I knew it, I was back chemistry class the following day waiting for the lunch bell to ring.

"Come on." Ashley motioned for me to follow her.

"I'm coming. I'm coming." I giggled. This girl had no patience. We walked together to the café and she showed me their table as she went to the lunch line. They sat at the last table of the café across from the halls and library. I spotted Lidia before I sat down. I made sure to sit so my back was to her. I didn't even wanna look at the girl.

"Hey, what's up? Guess you decided to start sitting with us now?" Justin asked as he sat down across from me.

"Yep. Ashley asked me yesterday. I generally sit with other people but that's on the floor and this is way better. Plus they don't talk to me much."

Justin laughed. "Well no need to worry about that now. We'll make sure you aren't ignored."

I grinned at that. Ashley soon came to join us. I looked at her tray.

"You didn't get much." I said.

She shrugged. "I only get the pizza. It's the only semi edible thing they serve."

I laughed. "That's probably true but even the pizza doesn't look all the way cooked. It looks doughy."

She shrugged again. "It doesn't taste that way."

I laughed again. I had never eaten the café lunch at any of my schools so I didn't actually know fully what I was talking about. From the looks of what I have seen over the years, I wasn't missing much.

"So, how did you and my best friend here meet, Sel?"

"We have chemistry class together and we sit near each other. At first I barely even knew she existed since she doesn't talk much."

"Haha, sounds about right."

"Then one day we were partnered up for a class project. At first I thought she didn't like me because she wouldn't speak. Then once she finally said something I guess we just hit it off."

Ashley laughed then. "I just don't like talking to people. Then once I decide I like you enough to talk i don't shut up."

It was my turn to laugh then. "Sounds like me except I'm really shy but once I get to know you I'm the most out going person ever."

We continued to talk and laugh until we all finished eating then went to the library. I guess this was going to start to be a tradition for us. It continued like that for the next couple of weeks and before I knew it, February had arrived. The walls and ceiling had been decorated for Valentines Day that was the biggest give away. Justin, Ashley and I got to know each other a lot better as time went on.

One day though something different happened, something I didn't expect.

We went to the library after lunch like we always did. We were near a book-case talking and laughing amongst each other when Justin caught me off guard.

"I've done some thinking." He said to me.

"Ok, about what?"

"I like you as in more than a friend. I like you a lot and I was wondering if you'd go out with me."

I was surprised. As we became friends I had forgotten all about my inner turmoil when we had first met. Now I was facing the one thing I didn't think would happen. He liked me. Me of all people. I thought a moment. Did we have anything in common? Did I like him that way. Would it work out?

I must have been taking too long thinking about it because he broke my thoughts.

"Well?"

"Um, no sorry."

"Ok."

He looked sad. What was I doing? Just weeks ago I had wondered if he was single. Now I knew but I was refusing him? No, no this is the right decision. I don't know what it was maybe a gut feeling or something but I knew saying no was my best choice.

The next day in the library he decided to bring it up again.

"Can I ask why you won't go out with me?"

"I just don't think we have anything in common."

He didn't say anything. He just nodded. I on the other hand had a new inner turmoil. I kind of wanted to say yes but everything in me was screaming no. It was true I didn't know what we had in common but there was a bit more too. We kind of had a different belief system. I believed in God and he didn't. But most importantly, I hadn't had the best luck with guys since I started dating at age 15. My first boyfriend left me for his ex, my second boyfriend was a douche and broke up with me over MySpace after 6 days then called me a bitch when he tried to take me back and I refused, my third boyfriend did we needed to take a break after only 8 days then played with my feelings and went on to say we could no longer be together and my most previous relationship just shouldn't have happened. We acted more as friends the whole time we dated, we only ever held hands once and it was awkward. My second boyfriend also stole my first kiss. I wasn't ready and the third stole a kiss after I told him I wanted to wait. This all happened in 9th, 10th and 11th grade. I guess a part of me didn't want to get hurt anymore than I already was. Between losing exes and best friends becoming bullies, I just didn't want anymore pain in my life. I didn't ever tell him that though.

I'd like to say he never asked me again but I'd be lying to you. He probably asked me several more times each time I told him no. Then one day, near the end of April, he decided on a proposition. We were in the library as always. Justin and I were sitting at a table in the back corner of the library. It was right next to a window. Ashley was at a nearby book-case browsing for a book. I was siting next to Justin but the way the rectangular table was set up, I was more diagonal to him than next to him. We had been talking a little about his family when he decided to suddenly change the subject.

"I know you've said no to dating me," He started. I just stared at him. Here we go again. "But what do you say about doing like a trial date. Let me prove myself. It'll only put my arm around you or whatever only if you allowed me to. Everything would be up to you. You can even pick the movie."

He looked over to me with his piercing brown eyes causing me to stand up abruptly and start pacing.

"I don't know." I said with an unsure tone.

"Please? And if you don't like it we will never do it again and I will never bring up dating me again."

I started pacing again a I thought about everything he said.

"How would we get there?" I asked curiously. I was only curious I didn't know if I'd say yes yet.

"My step dad can take us, drop us off and pick us back up."

I sighed. "Fine, I'll do it only this one time though."

He smiled. "Deal. Saturday sound good to you?"

"Yeah." I said nodding. I wasn't smiling though. I was nervous again.

* * *

><p>Saturday rolled around quickly much to my distaste. My mom and sister kept teasing me saying I was going on a date but I swore to them up and down it wasn't. They didn't let up though.<p>

Finally Justin and his step dad showed up.

"This is Brain." Justin introduced the man walking into the house behind him. He was a short guy with a beer gut. He had red hair from what I could see anyway as he was bald everywhere else except the back of his head. He had a bit of a goatee as well. Despite his hair, he looked to be in his mid thirties.

"Oh cool my dad's name is Brian." I answered waving to the man. He only nodded to me. Suddenly I got this feeling this guy wasn't the nicest person around.

"Hi I'm Mandy." My mom introduced herself to the man breaking my thoughts. She shook his hand.

"You ready?" Justin asked me then.

"Yep, let's go."

Justin opened the door for me and we made our way to the little red car waiting for us at the end of the driveway. The boy opened the passenger side door and then moved the seat forward so I could get in the back.

We soon made it to the movie theater. I chose the movie 'Furry Vengeance' because it looked the funniest. We got a popcorn to share and our own drinks. We sat in the middle of the theater toward the side.

Sometime during the movie, he slowly slid his arm around me. I tensed when his arm touched my back. I let him keep it there for a few minutes though. I guess more out of curiosity, if I liked it or whatever. I'm not even completely sure really.

"Is this ok?" He asked finally. I just have him a small smile. He kept his arm there for a bit until I moved it. His arm around me was uncomfortable the way I was sitting. Plus, I still wasn't sure on my decision. I didn't want him to think that by me letting him keep his arm around me that I was going to finally say yes.

The movie soon finished. I ended up loving it. I agreed to go with Justin to his house to hang out and meet his mom.

"This is my mom, Dianna. Mom, this is Selena." Justin introduced us when we arrived at his house.

"Nice to meet you." I said smiling.

"You too." She responded smiling as well. She was siting in the dining room in a large wooden chair. She had dark short hair much like Justin's except hers was thicker and a few inches longer. Justin told me on the way here she couldn't walk well because of a disease she has in her leg that I could never pronounce if my life depended on it. Anyway that was why she didn't stand when we met. I didn't know it then but this woman was going to become like a second mom to me and help me with some of life's struggles.

I looked around the living room that was next to the dining room while Justin helped his mom up out of the chair. I noticed some photos on the fire mantel. A few were family photos and some were couples photos.

'So he has siblings.' I thought to myself.

It wasn't long before I figured out how many siblings he had and little did i know one of them was going to change my life forever.


	6. Chapter Four: Her

_**A/N: Sam=Samantha Droke**_

_**"I didn't like her the first moment I met her, though i never knew why."**_

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><p>The rest of the weekend went by fairly quickly. The whole time I did nothing but think about my final answer to the boy I was starting to become best friends with. A part of me was still screaming NO, but another part was screaming give him a chance. Sadly, neither side was louder than the other.<p>

Finally, on May 4, 2010, I gave the extremely patient boy an answer. I had completely avoided the situation the day before but now Ashley wanted to know how everything went.

"I had a lot of fun actually. I didn't expect it honestly but the movie was awesome!"

Justin looked over at me. "So, what's your answer?" He asked me nervously.

I smiled slightly at him and took his hand in mine. "Yes, I'll go out with you."

"Yay!" He exclaimed like a little kid. I couldn't help but to laugh.

I quickly ran around my room trying to get ready in a timely manner. I was extremely nervous and I couldn't find anything to wear. Justin and I had been dating for about a week when I decided to ask him to join me at church to attend my youth group that night.

"It's just church." My mom said when she walked into my room and seeing me run around. "It's not like you're going on a date with the boy."

I made a face. "Mooooom, hush. I'm just excited ok." I pull a shirt over my head.

"Whatever." She shook her head and walked out of my room.

Finally, I was ready. And just in time too because right then the door bell rang signaling my friend had arrived to take my sister and I to church. "Have fun!" My mom hollered out as Gracie and I walked out the door.

"So, do I get to meet your new boy toy tonight?" My best friend Sam asked me when I sat next to her in the backseat of her moms car. Sam is a few years younger than me so we go to different schools. We met when she was twelve at church.

I gave her a look though I knew she was kidding. "He's not my boy toy. He's my boyfriend."

Sam fake gasps. "Selena Russo has a boyfriend?! Never thought I'd see the day." I playfully shove her and we both laugh.

"But in all seriousness, I get to meet him today right?"

I giggled. "Yep."

We arrived to the youth building outside the main church ten minutes later. We ran in and I looked around.

"I guess he's not here yet."

"Well, we are here early."

"True."

Sam and I saved our seats with our stuff then met up with our other friends in the back of a building. The youth center was actually the church's gym. It was a big basketball court. In the back was the sound stage but to get to it you had to climb giant steps. On the steps is where we met our friends. I told them about Justin coming. Most of them already knew about him because of my relationship status on Facebook.

We were all sitting and talking on the steps when Justin finally walked in. I grinned when I saw him but my smile fell seconds later. A girl I had never seen before strolled in behind him. I suddenly felt really intimidated by this girl though I wasn't sure why. She had medium length light brown hair with blonde ends, she had brown eyes and a cute little dimpled chin. She was a really beautiful girl. I stared at her a moment as she looked around the gym.

"That's my sister Demi." Justin said to me breaking my thoughts. I hadn't even seen him approach where I was sitting. He was standing in front of me now. I smiled slightly as Demi approached us.

"Hi." She said to us.

I waved to her slightly.

"Hey." My friend Michael spoke for me. I then took over and introduced Justin and Demi to everyone.

Minutes later, it was time for us to take our seats. We all went to our seats but for whatever reason Justin didn't follow us. He sat in the back row which was about 3 rows behind us.

"Why isn't he coming to sit with us?" Sam asked from beside me. I shrugged and gave the boy a questioning look. He just shrugged and I turned around as we were about to start. I glanced down the row toward the new girl, Demi. I can tell you one thing though. I do not like this Demi chick very much though I'm not sure why. I barely knew this girl but there was something about her that my gut said to stay away from her. I just couldn't for the life of me put my finger on it. Why not like her? She hasn't done anything to me. I shrugged to myself. Oh well I probably won't see her much after tonight anyway. With that thought, I finally focused on what was going on around me.

* * *

><p>"Why didn't you sit with us?" I asked Justin when everything ended and we were walking away from our seats.<p>

"I just wanted to let you sit with your friends."

I gave him a confused look. "But I wanted you to sit with us and for you to get to know everybody."

"I just don't do well in crowds. I'm more of a loner and keep to myself."

"Oh." I just decided to let the whole thing go. I didn't think it mattered enough to start a fight over or make him uncomfortable.

"Listen, I'd like you to meet my dad." He said changing the subject and stopping an awkward silence before it started.

I suddenly felt nervous. "You do? Why?"

He stopped and glanced down at me. "Why not? You've met my mom, my sister and my step dad. Only person left is my real dad."

I let out a breath trying to relax myself. "Ok, when?"

"This weekend. He is coming to hang out with me and my sister. I figure he and I could swing by your house while we are out."

I thought a moment. "Sure, yeah, ok."

"Awesome. We'll come by sometime in the afternoon on Saturday."

"Cool."

I ran over to my friends once our conversation was over. Demi was already with them. She was listening to everyone's conversation. She'd jump in on occasion. I climbed the steps on over to my friend Michael and sat next to him. I leaned into him and he put his arm around me. Now before you freak out on me, this means nothing. Michael is five years younger than me so it'd never happen. This is completely platonic. He's just really comfortable. Sam was already curled up on the other side of Michael. I tuned into the conversation as I got settled.

Demi turned to me.

"I already knew Sam when you introduced us."

"You did?" I asked turning to Sam.

"Yeah." Sam agreed. "We had a math class together last year."

"Oh cool." Demi turned away from us to talk to someone else.

"I don't like Demi very much." Sam said once she knew Demi wasn't listening.

"Why not?" I asked giving her a confused look.

"I don't know. I just don't. There's something about her."

Michael seemed to agree. I looked over at Demi. Her back was to me so she didn't acknowledge that I was looking at her. What was it about this girl that made everyone not like her?

* * *

><p>The doorbell rang throughout the house. The day Justin had been talking non stop about the last two days at lunch had arrived. I looked through the peep hole and rolled my eyes. I didn't know Demi would be with them. I opened the door and smiled.<p>

"Hey!" I hugged Justin and let his sister and his dad in. My mom introduced herself and I introduced Demi to Gracie. Demi had just missed meeting Gracie at church Wednesday since she was with her group of friends. My dad came home a little later and began talking to my mom and Justin's dad. After a while, the parents went for a walk while we stayed behind to play _Bandhero_. Gracie and Demi were both put in charge. _'Great, I'm gonna be babysat by two fourteen year olds.'_ I thought to myself. They were mainly supposed to make sure Justin and I didn't do anything we weren't supposed to do.

"Kiss, make-out, do whatever the hell you want. I don't care." Demi joked as soon as the adults left, though part of me thinks she wasn't actually kidding.

We played Bandhero for a bit though Justin refused to play. Then we went out on the golf cart. Demi begged to drive but I wouldn't let her. After only thirty minutes though, we had to bring it in because it was starting to rain. Instead of running inside though, we chose to play in it. We got fused at but we didn't really care. We jumped around, danced and acted like a bunch of little kids. We ran down the street and jumped in the puddles. We played in the little stream created as the rain rolled down the hill.

After a while, we were called to come inside. Demi and Gracie ran ahead. I stopped Justin and looked up at him with a smile on my face.

"What? Why'd we stop?" He asked me confused. I put my finger up signalling for him to wait.

"Hey, you guys coming?" Demi yelled as Gracie ran inside the garage.

"Yeah be there in a second!" I yelled back. Demi turned and ran into the garage after looking at us for moment.

I turned back to Justin and smiled again. "What?" I leaned in slowly and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. I made it only last a second though as I was really nervous about it. I turned and ran away from the boy giggling like a maniac.

And that day standing out in the rain, I had my first kiss with Justin.

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><p><em><strong>Sorry its so short and just to warn you the next one is a little short as well. but ill try to post again soon. This and any other short chapter that i post in the future will basically be filler chapter. They will be like the bridges that will lead you to the next big part of the story.<strong>_

_**P.S. I also know Demi's correct hair color(s) back in 2010, but the real person demi portrays in this story had that hair color.**_


	7. Chapter Five: Bad Boyfriend?

_DixieLuvez: thanks for the review! I hope you continue to review I love seeing them and they help motivate me! :)_

_suefanficlover: just a little longer!_

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><p>"Graduation is a time that represents closing one chapter in life and opening another. Mine represented trying not to kick my boyfriend's ass."<p>

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><p>The following week, my mom, my sister and I went over to Justin's so I could hang out with him. When we arrived, he greeted us at the door.<p>

"My sister is here but she's upstairs sick."

Seconds later, she came hoping down the stairs almost literally. She hugged Gracie and greeted me. She was still in her pajamas but she looked fine to me. Why would Justin lie about his sister being sick? She was in high spirits too it seemed, grinning and talking loudly. This girl was definitely not sick. I glanced over and Justin. He had on the expression I couldn't read. Was he unhappy, uncomfortable? I couldn't quite tell. I turned back to Demi and we began talking. I didn't really like this girl and yet we were participating in meaningless chatter. Justin approached me as Demi and I spoke to each other.

"I'm going to go on a walk for a minute, clear my head."

"Ok." I responded then turned back to Demi. Like I said, I couldn't help but talk to this girl. It was like I was drawn to her or something. I could never explain it to you in any way but that's when I first noticed this force she seemed to have.

About an hour later, my mom and left and returned with one of my other friends. Well technically now she was more Gracie's friend. We were best friends last year and the year before but we had a falling out. I still loved the girl though. Her name was Taylor and my mom had asked for her to come over. She had needed to get out of her house for a while. See, her mom had breast cancer and had recently decided to stop receiving chemo. Her dad just needed her and her brother to be out of the house for a while so her brother went to their grandma's and my mom got Taylor. I introduced her to Demi and they hit it off right away. It was like they had known each other for years.

It's been two hours now since Justin left. I had thought he would only be gone a moment while Demi and I spoke to each other but he's not come back. After acting silly and talking, I started feeling upset. I had come here to hang out with Justin but instead he dumped me on his sister and disappeared. I laid on a blanket in the middle of the floor that we had been playing with and frowned. Demi was beginning to set up a movie for us to watch when she noticed the look on my face.

"Hey Selena, you ok?"

"No, it's been two hours and Justin still hasn't come back."

"I'm sure he'll be back soon."

I heard my mom calling me from the other room distracting me from my thoughts.

"Yeah?" I responded as I walked in. She had been talking to Dianna this whole time not that I knew what they were talking about.

"Where did Justin go?" I guessed she had noticed his absence.

"I don't know. He went for a walk then disappeared." I could tell my mom picked up on the slight anger in my voice and apparently Dianna did too because she spoke up next.

"Try not to take it too personally Selena. He doesn't do well with new people or many people at all for that matter."

"Yeah I've been talking with Dianna, Sel about him. You know how your cousin has autism?"

"Yeah." I said. I was a little confused as to where this was going. What did my cousin have to do with Justin?

"Well, Justin has it too. Well it's a type of it and it has a name. It's called Asperger's syndrome."

"Oh." I responded.

"So give him some time Sel." Dianna said.

"Ok."

We left after a little while. Justin only showed up just before we left. He could tell I was mad at him. He texted me later and said he was sorry. He then asked if he could still come to my graduation which was now at the end of the week. I was still a little mad but I had already reserved him a ticket and I knew I needed to be patient with him anyways. After a moment, I agreed that he could still go.

* * *

><p>That Friday I walked onto my school's football field for the last time as a high school student. The whole ceremony would last about two hours, and though I had been talking to a lot of people when I arrived to the school, I'd sadly have no one to talk to since we had to be in alphabetical order. Who's ever idea this was needs to be shot I'm just sayin'. Ok maybe that was a little dramatic but you get the idea. To top everything off I couldn't see any of my family, Taylor or even Justin for that matter. Yeah, even though Taylor and I had had a falling out I still invited her. She had been there for me when things fell apart in tenth grade and so on so it only seemed fair that she saw me graduate too. Ok, maybe that was just my own logic talking but whatever.<p>

The speeches seemed to be going on forever and our valedictorian was boring as hell. She was so monotone and kept using huge words I didn't understand. I was yawning a lot by the time she finally finished speaking. The other person, the other 'dictorian -whatever you call the second runner-up to valedictorian thankfully didn't take as long. Once the speaking was finally done, they finally started calling students to come up and receive their diplomas. It started with honor students then went to us "regular" kids. Because there was about 200 of us, they legitimately had to call each name quickly only leaving about two seconds between each name. Very quickly, a line was formed at the stage steps then we walked in a line got our diplomas, shook hands with whoever and then walked back down the other side of the stage and back to our seats. The whole encounter lasted about 5 seconds, basically so fast I didn't have time to find anyone I knew in the stands so I didn't even bother.

Finally, we got to my favorite part of the night. The part where we got to throw our caps in the air. I actually threw mine so high I completely lost sight of it and had to search for it after all the caps had landed. Thankfully, someone found it for me or I probably would have looked for a really long time. I then put it back on and went to search for people I knew. While looking, I passed Lidia. Instead of disgusted looks or looks of hatred, we actually smiled and waved at each other. I actually wanted to turn around to shake her hand and wish her good luck for the future, but I lost her in the crowd before I could.

Justin found me minutes later and quickly approached me. He is actually down here in the large crowd, well that's a great step forward.

"Hey." He said to me smiling as he approached.

"Hey." I said back. That was when I noticed that he was clean-shaven. _'I think I just fell a little more for him.'_ I thought as I grinned widely.

Justin laughed as he noticed my grin. "What?"

"You shaved. I like it."

"You do?"

"Mhm." I felt my eyes get big as I responded. Oh brother I'm turning to putty right now.

"I guess I should keep it shaved then if you like it that much."

"Yes you should." I responded, nodding.

He laughed again. "Come on, let's go find your parents."

We found Gracie and Taylor while we walked around looking.

"Congratulations." Taylor said as we approached. She hugged me.

"Thanks." _'Man, I hate how awkward it seems with us now.'_ I thought. If I had graduated this time last year, she would have been the first to find me and we would be laughing and cutting up right now. Sadly, that's no longer the case and I may never understand or know why.

"Gracie, have you seen Mom or anybody for that matter?" I asked breaking the silence.

"Not since we got here." She responded.

"Yeah, we sat on the opposite side of the field as them." Taylor added pointing to the bleachers behind them.

"Oh ok." I then turned and headed to the other side of the field to the other bleachers. Justin still in tow of course.

I finally found my family a bit later. I got hugs and congrats from everyone. Then my mom turned to me.

"We have cake and ice cream back at the house. You ready to go?"

"Yeah sure. Is Justin coming with us?" I asked eagerly as we headed toward the car. I don't know why I suddenly felt so eager about Justin spending time with me but I guess this is a good sign, right? I could hear Justin snickering beside me when I asked. I playfully hit his arm.

"Of course I'm coming too. My mom is picking me up at your house later."

"Yay!" I exclaimed clapping my hands. Oh boy, I'm turning into one of _those_ girls.

* * *

><p>As we ate cake, I introduced Justin to everyone in my family that had been able to come. Basically my granny on my mom's side and ain't and uncle on my dad's. (We were only given ten tickets for graduation.) Then, Justin, Taylor, Gracie and I decided to go out on the back porch to eat our cake. Thankfully, it wasn't an awkward situation for me and Taylor. We were actually talking and laughing for the first time in a really long time.<p>

Low and behold though, guess who showed up 20 minutes later? If you guessed Demi, you're right. Here's a cookie. She jumped right in the conversation and I actually did pretty good at playing everything off. On the inside though, I didn't feel too happy that she had decided to come crash my party. Why in the hell does this girl keep appearing in my life?

* * *

><p>I'd like to say that after graduation night Justin and I continued to get better. But if I said that, I'd be lying to you. It was like the one step forward and all the positivity was a one night thing. At church, he still wouldn't sit with me and when I finally got him to, he would barely acknowledge my existence; pretty much by not speaking or looking my way. Also, anytime we hung out, I noticed more and more that Demi was the one stuck entertaining me instead of him. When we went on walks, I was with her. When I met their neighbors, again I was with her. He was around but he'd keep his distance. Once we went on a walk with one of their friends. He walked ahead with the friend and I once again was stuck walking with Demi. Since it was now happening so many times though, it was starting to get where i didn't mind as much as before. Deep down I was getting worried though. Where were me and Justin going to end up if this kept continuing?<p> 


	8. Chapter Six: Beach Trip part 1

_**This is probably going to be one of my favorite chapters. From here on out Demi will also be mentioned a lot more and have more dialogue, yay! Lol**_

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><p><em>"Our friendship built up faster than I could have ever expected."<em>

* * *

><p>I wish I could tell you where things between Demi and I began to change. I really have no clue though. Just suddenly I realized we were becoming friends. I was starting to become more excited when Wednesdays rolled around and for once it wasn't because of Justin. I was excited because it meant I could hang out with Jenny again. It was approaching mid June now and Justin no longer tried to sit with me at church. For once though, I didn't care. Our youth pastor was talking about a beach trip we would be taking next week. He first spoke of it around the time school let out. He wanted to give us enough time in advance to get the money for it as it would cost around $150 to go. See basically this beach trip is a beach retreatchurch camp. Our first year going was last summer and it was loads of fun. We played games, had contests, had awesome food and had worship every night. We'd leave really early Friday morning and then leave to return early Monday morning. The retreat was in Panama City Beach, Florida which is a day trip by bus or in our case church vans.

I turned to Demi as our youth pastor spoke.

"So are you going to get to go?" I asked eagerly. Before today, she had no clue if she'd have the money but now that our money was due today and next week, I had to know.

"Yep! My dad is paying for both Justin and I to go!"

"Yay!" I exclaimed clapping my hands and disregarding that Justin would go as well. A beach trip with my new friend, this was definitely going to be loads of fun.

* * *

><p>The morning of the beach trip though I was anything but excited. I woke up that morning feeling sick to my stomach. I skipped breakfast and gathered my things to leave. On the drive there, I tried to ignore it all but that only seemed to make it worse. When we arrived, I greeted everyone that was already at the church but I didn't hang around. Everyone else was crowded around on the side-walk near the side entrance waiting for the go ahead that we could load our vehicles. I on the other hand was making sure I didn't empty my stomach in front of everyone. I continuously kept pacing around. Keeping up movement seemed to calm the nausea slightly which was how it always was. Yes, I get this nausea spell often. I almost can never tell if it's nerves anymore or if my stomach just hates me. I never get sick though. Demi and Justin soon arrived, almost late of course but at least they were here. I greeted them but just like before I didn't stay to hang out. I wondered around the parking lot instead. No one seemed to care or give me a second glance. I knew I probably looked odd and I probably looked like I didn't feel good as well since my arms remained rested on my stomach. No one said anything though. If i didn't feel so bad about my stomach, I'd probably feel bad that no one was taking the time to make sure I was ok. I finally told my mom how bad I felt and she sat me in the car to get out of the heat. It may be like 9 am but it was at least 80 degrees out already.<p>

"Have you eatin anything yet?" My mom asked concerned.

"No." I mumbled.

"You really need to honey."

I shook my head. "I can't it'll make me feel worse."

"Well you need to at least try. It's not good for you to not eat." Before I could say anything else she got back out of the car. She returned minutes later with peanut butter crackers and sprite that she got from the machines inside. I didn't try to fight her. I took the sprite and drank some but hesitated with the crackers. I opened them slowly and slid one out of the pack. I took a small bite and struggled to eat it. I felt like I was gonna puke as I chewed.

I slowly finished the first cracker but had to put down the rest. I drank half the sprite in the mean time. I felt a little better but not a lot. As the time to load the buses grew nearer, I was getting nervous. There was no way I'd be able to travel for ten or more hours feeling like this.

"I don't know if I should go." I said to my mom voicing my thoughts.

My mom sighed automatically sensing my fears. "I think you should go. You may regret it of you don't."

"But my stomach hurts too bad. I don't think I could make it feeling like this. I'll want to pull over a lot." I said quietly. Anytime I'm in a moving vehicle for a bit with an already upset stomach it usually gets worse.

"Well I think you should go but it's up to you. I'll give you sometime to think about it. I found out from somebody that y'all will be leaving a little later than originally planned because the church had to rent a school bus."

I nodded and looked around at the crowd in front of me as my mom got out of the car. The whole bus thing made a lot of sense. Last year we only needed two vans but this year the group of people going was nearly triple the size of last years group. We'd never fit that many people in just two vans or three for that matter.

I got out of the car after a bit to walk around some more. The youth pastor's wife came to find me apparently she had talked to my mom.

"I'm sorry you're feeling bad. I really think you should go on the trip though. You'll have lots of fun and I know you had fun last year. Would it make you feel better if you rode in the bus I'll be riding in? That way if we need to stop you can just whisper to me and I'll come up with some excuse to stop. That way we won't have to tell everyone you feel bad plus I kind of have a small bladder anyway." She whispered the last part and I giggled.

I thought for a moment. "Yeah, ok I'll go so long as I can ride with you."

"Good. I'll let your mom know that you are going in the mean time go grab your stuff because it's time to load up the trailer."

"Ok, awesome." I said. If you didn't already figure it out, one of the vans would be pulling a trailer with all of our luggage.

I grabbed my stuff and put it in the area with the other luggage that was next to the guy loading the trailer. Then I went to talk to my mom.

"You ok now?" I still felt bad but I nodded my head. At least now I had a game plan about it. "Good. Now go and have fun. I'll see you when you get back."

I nodded my head and hugged my mom goodbye. I went to go find the van that the youth pastor would be driving. He was already inside as the vans had been pulled around from the back of the church just minutes before. I met with his wife that was near by and he told me to sit behind her husband that way if there was a problem all I would have to do was tap her arm and whisper in her ear.

Each seat in both vans could sit three other than the driver and passenger side. Seating was first come first serve so if you wanted a van you had to run for it. Once the vans were full, everyone that was left would have to ride the bus. I watched as the other kids scrambled for the vans. After everyone was loaded up, the chaperons had to go around and make sure people weren't trying to over crowd the vans. Sure enough, our van had four people in the back. There were only three seat belts and since the rule was often broken last year, they were making sure to enforce seat belts this year.

"Ok one person from this can needs to go to the bus." One of the adults said. I had special privileges so of course I wasn't going to move. I looked around at everyone else. We were all with friends now so no one wanted to go. After a moment though, Sam offered to move and left. I don't think she was too happy though. Soon after the doors were closed and we were ready to go. First the two vans went, then chaperons who offered to drive a few kids so the bus wasn't too crowded then the school bus was last; mainly because it was slowest. We basically looked like a small caravan leaving the church parking lot. I had to giggle slightly. Then we were off.

The bus ride turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would be. I started to feel a little better and didn't have to ask to stop as much as I thought I would. We did make stops though. About every three or so hours we'd stop for potty breaks, to stretch our legs or for food. I still didn't eat a lot though. We laughed, talked and played around. I spent more of the time turned around in my seat listening to Demi, Taylor and Taylor's friends talk but I spoke some too. I even listened to some music since we wouldn't be able to once we got there. To make sure we stayed focused, our phones and/or iPods & MP3 players would be taken up and put away. We'd only have access to our phones for about ten minutes every night to call our parents and such. We'd get everything back once we went to board buses and vans Monday morning.

* * *

><p>We finally arrived in Florida around dinner time. Our arrival time was actually later than anticipated. The school bus driver had gotten lost and we had to turn around to find them. And one of the cars almost ended up in an auto-accident. I don't know the full story but some how the black SUV had slid into a ditch and was very close to tipping over. The kids inside I was told were literally holding up the car by its interior. All of their weight had to be shifted to one side and the kids had their hands on the inside roof of the car. Thankfully, those inside were around my age and athletic otherwise I don't think it would have worked. Thankfully, a good Samaritan with a pick up truck and rope pulled them out of the ditch before we arrived.<p>

After we unloaded our things from the trailer, we met up in the building that would be used as the mess hall to have dinner. I still wasn't feeling well but I wanted to try and eat anyway. I ended up picking at my food anyway though. I was starting to feel discouraged. This weekend was supposed to be about having fun but so far I haven't had a lot of it. I became angry with myself and began to cry. I put my head down so no one would see me. The last thing I needed was attention brought upon myself now. It seemed to work at first then suddenly Demi appeared next to me out of no where. It surprise me a little that she had noticed me since I figured she'd be occupied by Taylor and her friends but another part expected her to show up as well.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked taking a seat next to me. The table I was at had very few people as everyone was still in the food line or with their friends at other tables.

"I still don't feel good." I sniffled.

"I'm sorry."

She ended up sitting with me. Taylor and Gracie came over to sit with Demi. Demi kept trying to make me laugh as she spoke to Taylor. She kept poking me in the sides trying to tickle me. I wasn't that ticklish but I couldn't help but to giggle anyway. I had quit crying by now as well.

I continued trying to eat but I only ended up eating a few things.

"Hey, you gonna eat your cheese?" Demi asked me out of the blue.

"No I don't like cheese."

"She hates cheese." Taylor pipped in.

"Seriously?! Cheese is amazing! Can I have yours?"

I laughed. "Yeah take it."

She snatched the cheese up and gobbled it down.

* * *

><p>Oh since I haven't been very specific let me tell you a little about this place. We stayed in little rooms that kind of resembled cabins but instead of being made of wood the outer walls were concrete and the inside walls were plaster like a house would be. There was two large windows on each side of the door. Each room had a certain amount of bunk beds and there was one bathroom in the back. There were two showers and a toilet. We were all separated by gender and age group. Guys were never allowed in the girls room and vise versa. When you walked outside there was a swimming pool that was surrounded by the other buildings. Up some stairs was the worship hall and across the street and up stairs was the mess hall. On the other side of the fence, was the beach. Everywhere we went, we had to ask permission and take an adult with us. It wasn't too big of a deal as you might think.<p>

Anyway, the next morning, we met in the building we were using as the worship hall. It was basically a large carpeted room with chairs stacked up in the back that would have to be set out every night. At the front area, was a place to set up the stage. We all gathered in and sat on the floor where we would be briefed on the rules while we were here.

Our youth pastor basically told us rules we had heard before we left or what we heard if we attended last years beach trip. It was what we had to all hear though because if we broke any of these rules, we'd be in a lot of trouble. He then changed the subject a little.

"Who here has a boyfriend or girlfriend that is also on the trip." He asked us all. A few people raised their hands as well as me.

"You guys have your own rules to follow as well as the ones I just told you about. There will be no holding hands, kissing or any public displays of affection. If you are caught doing any thing against these rules you will be severally punished."

Everyone nodded. _'I will need to talk to Justin.'_ I thought.

"Ok good. Now, as you already know, everyone has to be awake by 730 every morning and breakfast is at 830. Lunch will be served at 12 or when the activity going on at that time is finished. Dinner will be served at 630 and then worship will follow after. Worship will go until 930 or 10, and lights out is 11 pm. We will let you know when your free times are. They will be for 1-3 hours and you can swim in the pool, go to the beach, hang in your rooms or go check out the shops near by. Just make sure where ever you go an adult is present. Everyone understand?" We all nodded again.

After we were told about all the rules, the shaperons, which most were also like our camp councilors as each room had one adult, handed out colored bandanas. These would represent our team colors and our teams consisted of everyone we were rooming with. We had to wear our bandanas at all times when we were outside of our rooms. If you forgot your bandana, points would be taken off your teams score. Whatever team had the most points at the end of the weekend would be declared winners. Also, every time a team won a game or relay race, would also win points. We'd even get extra kuddo points for having or rooms clean and bunks made up every morning and other random things that the spare chaperons thought deserved points.

"Ok, once you have on your bandanas, go to your rooms and get your swim suits on and then meet down at the beach. The first relay race is in thirty minutes." Our youth pastor spoke up.

I pulled Justin aside after we were dismissed. "We need to make sure to follow the rules Justin."

"I know."

"Well to make sure we do, I think we shouldn't be around each other much. We can talk some though like during free time and meals."

He nodded solemnly. "Ok." He said quietly.

When I told him all of this, I didn't mean for him to ignore me or act like we were just friends. I just didn't want there to be any temptation. I wish I had known then that there would be an issue.

* * *

><p>The first relay race was loads of fun. We had a noodle race. We stood in a line and we took turns running down to the water's edge, through the shallow area in the water, ran around our group leaders that stood in the water and then back to the line. We had to do this all with a pool noodle between or legs and we had to hand the noodles off to the next person when we got back to the line. It was a great race. Lots of us were screaming and clapping and cheering as our teammates ran with the noodles. Our team, we were light blue, ended up winning by a landslide. I think it had to so with the fact our team consisted of mostly athletic girls. Though it also might has had to do with the fact that we were oldest aside from the guys group that was our age. In that case, we had more powerful legs.<p>

The next race was the crab walk race. We had to do the same thing as in the noodle race except there was no noodle and we had to grab walk the whole time. This race proved to be the hardest for everyone. Some were decent at it and some were really bad at it. What slowed most everyone down though, was being consistently splashed in the face by other racers feet or even your own. Some people even lost their footing and fell in the water.

It was near the end of the race and our team was neck and neck with the yellow team. The yellow team like us was a girl team and consisted of kids 4 and 5 years younger than us. Both groups yelled and screamed for there racer. As they rounded their team leaders and headed back to shore it looked like it would be a tie. Both girls scrambled quickly and at the last possible second the girl on our team stuck her leg out as far as it would go making it cross the finish line before the rest of her. Because of that move, we won! Guess it pays to have long legs. Our win pissed off the yellow team though, saying that we cheated. Some of our girls started arguing as the next race was explained. The yellow teams group leader had to come over and make the arguers be quiet.

The last race ended up going to the boy's team that was our age. We didn't like that we lost but we were happy that we already had two wins under our belts. We all went to our rooms to change because now it was time for lunch. As we got changed, you could tell our team was already pumped. We were all chattering loudly and you could feel the excitement surging through the room. As we spoke we decided we'd give each other nick names. One girl was Ace because of how athletic she was, another was Hayzo since her name was Hayley, and mine was Ham because when we were giving out nicknames I decided it would be a good time to announce that I had ham with me for lunch. (Some were giving out nicknames while others asked what we were having for lunch today.) I don't remember any other nicknames as I hadn't really been paying attention.

After lunch, we had free time. Half of everyone went to the beach while the other half stayed at the pool. I went to the beach but only stayed for about ten minutes because the water was full of algae. I went to the pool where I met up with Taylor and Demi. I jumped in and swam toward Demi. They were on the edge of the shallow end right before it got deep because Taylor couldn't swim well. Apparently I picked the perfect time to come to the pool because minutes later I saw Taylor's head go under. She had slipped into the deep part and I guess I was the only one that remembered she couldn't swim because everyone just stood around laughing thinking she was playing. I knew better though. Something in me knew she was in trouble. She may had been doing a good job swimming at first but now she wasn't. As quickly as I could, I walked and wadded through the water toward Taylor. Thankfully I was only a few feet away. I grabbed Taylor by the arm and pulled her to me. She instinctively wrapped her arms and legs around my body after her head broke the surface and she was able to gasp for air. I rubbed her back as she coughed and sputtered for air. I wrapped my free arm around her back and she clung to me like a scared toddler would cling to its mother.

"You ok?" I asked her when she finished coughing. She still clung to me and I wasn't about to let her go. She nodded her head still unable to speak clearly. I held her in the water for a good while just walking around the shallow end as she held on to me. She soon had me help her to the edge of the pool because Gracie had come and sat down on the edge after being in her room. People asked Taylor if she was ok after I got her out of the pool. I guess it took them to notice how scared she was for them to realize something had happened.

After I left the edge of the pool to swim some more, Demi decided it'd be a fun idea to jump on me and have me hold her like I had been holding Taylor. I couldn't help but laugh at her.

"Why aren't you swimming on your own?" I asked her.

"Because I'm lazy now carry me." I giggled at her childishness but wrapped my arms around her back nonetheless.

Demi and I were giggling and joking around like a couple of little kids. Suddenly, she started talking about me breaking up with her brother.

"Why would I break up with him?"

"Because he's weird and smelly and I don't like him." I rolled my eyes at her silliness.

"You should leave him for meeee!" She sang but I knew she was joking.

"Don't say that any louder he could hear you!"

I ended up regretting saying that to her as she took it as a challenge.

"Justin, she's breaking up with you for me!" She screamed.

I covered her mouth with my hand. Though i don't think he was in ear shot. She licked my hand to get me to let go.

"Gross!" I put my hand in the water to clean it off. "I'm pretty sure he's still at the beach so i don't think he heard you."

"I'll just have to yell it again next time he is around us."

"Oh no you won't!"

"Will too!"

"No!" I dunked her underwater hoping she'd figure out I meant business. But instead she came back up and said she'd still tell him. I then tried to pry her off of me but the second I got her arms off of me, she grabbed on again.

"Let go!"

"No!"

I dunked her again and again. I wasn't actually mad at her. In fact, every time she came back up we were both laughing like idiots. She never did let go of me either. In fact, she made me hold her while I walked around the pool up until it was time to get out because free time was over. I didn't really mind though.

The rest of the day was a lot of fun until we got to dodge ball. It had been several hours since free time so a lot of us were starting to get hot and irritable. We were told this would be our last game then we would have about an hour to get cleaned up and everything for dinner. Tonight was theme night so we had to dress up as well as do a short skit. Our large group was split in half so each group had multiple colors in it. Tonight our group would serve dinner and do our skit then tomorrow everyone else would do there's.

Anyway back to dodge ball. Personally I didn't really like the game of dodge ball but we all had to play whether we wanted to or not otherwise our team would lose points. It was our team, the pink girls team, the green guys team and dark blue guys team all playing. The other teams were playing a different game by the pool, one we had already played right after break time. I was out here with Gracie and Justin. Normally I'd be happy to be out here with my boyfriend and at first I was but he hadn't hardly spoke two words to me. The as we played each round of dodge ball he decided it was a great time to be a show off. He was the last person in several times and each time he'd dodge the ball like he was in the Olympics or something. I started to feel annoyed. I never liked it when guys were show offs. Sorry but showing me you can do things all "cool" like doesn't impress me at all. It just makes you a douche bag or annoying depending on what it is you're doing. He then proceeded to brag to me that everyone in his room started calling him Ninja because of how cool they thought it was that he could climb the walls in their room or whatever. Apparently their room had an attack or whatever that had no later. Apparently, he spent a lot of time up there. I also noticed that anytime he came outside, he was wearing black and blue jeans. We were in Florida, ok, with 98 degree weather and 100% humidity. Any time anyone went outside they had on tank tops/ T-shirts and shorts but not him. I'm pretty sure he wore a full outfit to the beach earlier. Since he was acting like a big shot right now that even annoyed me too.

"Don't you get hot?" I asked him noticing now that he had on gloves with the fingers cut off.

"Not really." He answered.

"That doesn't make any sense it's like 500 degrees out here and your playing dodgeball while wearing a jacket." I said observing his torso. I was pretty aggravated at the boy right now. I was surprised he couldn't tell. On top of everything this was the first time we had spoken since we left the church; other than when I told him we shouldn't act like a couple.

"I don't feel heat like other people. I feel fine right now." I stared at him weirdly but let it go. I didn't feel like talking to him anymore, not in front of everyone anyway.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Sorry I know it seems like it ends suddenly but the chapter was starting to get too long so i separated it into two parts. More soon! :)<strong>_


	9. Chapter Seven: Beach Trip part 2

_**My best friend had a baby the other day! She had a little boy and he is so freakin cute. Since i knew my writing will be a little slow for the next few days, I decided to go ahead and post a new chapter. And bc well i'm awesome hehe. Anyways, you may be hearing me talk about nephew or my 'Bubby' (my nickname for him) a lot so sorry ahead of time XD. i just love him to death.**_

_**Oh, and please check out my updated profile on here ~xostaystrongox. I've told a little bit more about myself :)**_

* * *

><p><em>"I had a big decision to make."<em>

* * *

><p>Later at dinner, I was sitting with Demi when I noticed Justin sat behind us. I leaned in toward Demi.<p>

"Ha, you forgot about earlier!"

She gave me a smirk. Oops guess I shouldn't have opened my big mouth.

"Justin, Selena is leaving you for me!" She screamed. She didn't turn around to say it either. He just put her food down and screamed. I looked behind us but Justin didn't acknowledge me but I did giggle at the fact that some people were staring at Demi and I now. I could already tell, we were definitely going to be an interesting duo.

After eating and doing our skits, we went to our rooms to change out of our costumes. We had to be fast because our small church service we had every night started soon. Since last night was out first night of church service not much had happened. I wondered what could be in store for us tonight.

We all walked outside and saw some of the adults carrying candles in paper bags down to the beach. We were confused. What was going on? We walked over to the fence on the other side of the pool to find out. When we peered over, we saw our youth pastor and some other people setting up the candles in a large circle. Oh tonight was going to be very interesting.

* * *

><p>We all headed down to the beach a few minutes later. We were instructed to sit behind one of the candles. Demi came and sat to the right of me. I didn't take long for everyone to follow suit and soon our circle was made. Then we were told that each person would come up and talk to everyone with a bullhorn so we could all hear. We had to tell a story about how God had helped us through a time of struggle. We wouldn't be forced to talk since a lot of us didn't like to talk in front of people but we were encouraged to. At first I wasn't going to talk, but something changed my mind. After a good handful of people went, I got up and took the bullhorn from the person that just finished speaking. I spoke about my issue I had once had with my bully Lidia. It was hard to speak about since I never really told anyone and I was already shaky a lot from speaking in front of so many people. I get stage fright pretty easily. I had to pause mid sentence at one point because my voice was shaking so bad. People probably thought I was crying and while I was pretty emotional I wasn't quite crying.<p>

When I finished, I handed off the bullhorn and made my way back to my spot. Demi immediately reached over to hug me.

"I love you." She said hugging me tight.

"I love you too."

We went back to listening but not for very long. Demi and I kept getting distracted by talking to each other.

"I wonder how they aren't catching on fire." I said to her quietly while peering at my candle inside my bag.

"I dunno." She peered down at hers too. "It'd be funny if one did though."

Almost as if on command suddenly my bag lot up in flames. My eyes widened and I backed up a little. Everyone around me began to laugh and I did too. I threw sand on it to put it out then one of the adults came and took it away.

I pouted. "Now I don't have a candle."

Demi giggled at me and I stuck my tongue out at her.

After everyone spoke, we were told that the next evening we would be doing a baptism in the pool. Anyone that had never been baptized or wanted to be baptized again would go to their leader and let them know. Then, we were dismissed.

When we got back to our cabins, our group leader told us we could get our phones from the closet. They had been put in a clear bucket then put on a top shelf. We were only allowed to call family. If we were caught talking to anyone else we'd be in trouble. I called my parents and let them know what we had been doing. I talked a few minutes then hung up and put my phone away. I went ahead and got into bed because it would be time for lights out nice everyone got finished with their phones.

* * *

><p>The next day was our last full day of our best trip and we wanted to make sure we had loads of fun. We played twice as many games and had one two-hour break after lunch. Everyone else decided to go to the pool to swim. Literally everyone else. No one went down to the beach much anymore because of the algae and last years stories of about 5 people getting stung by jellyfish. No one dared to take the chance. Since so many people were in the pool I decided to chill out in the room instead. I found my friend Megan sitting on her bed. I sat on the bed across from hers and we got to talking. A couple of minutes later Demi came in dripping wet and wrapped in a towel.<p>

"Got bored swimming?" I asked as she sat next to me but on the floor instead of the bed.

"Yeah, Taylor and Gracie are taking a nap and a bunch of other people went souvenir shopping. I got bored."

I laughed a little. "Oh ok."

"What are y'all talking about?"

"Nothing specific, just chatting." Megan answered.

"So there's something I need to tell you about my brother."

"What's up?"

"He's been flirting with Sam."

"What?"

"Yeah, that girl that's your age, Courtney or whatever was telling me that she had to get on to him for trying to put his arm around her while they were on the bus."

"Wait, that happened on the way here?"

"Yeah, she had to get onto him several times."

"Wow."

Megan spoke up. "Yeah and I've been hearing from people in his room that he keeps saying that he can't wait until we get on the bus Monday so he can hang out with me again. He's been flirting with me as well except it's been during our free times."

I had noticed that he had been hanging around Megan a lot but it hadn't bothered me much, well until now. I put my head in my hand that rested on my knee.

"What do you guys think I should do?"

"I think you may need to break up with him." Demi said. "He may technically not be cheating right now but if he's already flirting with other girls then it's just a matter of time."

"Yeah I mean he's already flirted with two other girl's who knows who else he's flirted with when you aren't around." Megan said.

"Which is quite often." I put in.

I sighed. "This sucks."

"C'mon, let's get your mind off this." Demi said next. "Let's go check out the shops across the street."

"Ok."

We went and found our youth pastor to get permission. He said we could but interestingly enough he didn't make us take a chaperon. We didn't ask questions though, we just hurried across the street. The shops were kind of lame so we ended up buying slushies instead. We fooled around and acted like idiots until we had to get back to our rooms when free time ended.

* * *

><p>Later that day we all met up at the worship hall to have our last church-like service. The baptism ha taken place thirty minutes before which Demi had taken part of. I was very proud of her.<p>

**_*flashback*_**

_"The next person to be baptized is Demi." Our youth pastor said. I clapped my hands to myself in excitement as Demi got into the pool. The most interesting part about this baptism is everyone getting baptized got to choose who would baptize them. Demi chose the pastor's wife. I watched as she got into the pool with Demi._

_"This is one of the most important decisions in your life." I heard her say. "What's your full name?"_

_"Demetria Devonne Torres." They were both talking lowly to each other but I was close enough to be able to hear everything._

_I watched as Demi was dipped back into the water and pulled back up seconds later. We all clapped for her as they climbed out of the water._

_I waited until it was all over before running to Demi and giving her a bone crushing hug. "I'm so proud of you!" I exclaimed._

_***end flashback***_

After we sang songs and jumped around like we were at a concert, we all sat down to hear the youth pastor speak. The topic was chains and how things in life can tie you down and keep you from having a happier life. The way he spoke of the topic had me thinking a lot.

He then had us pray with a youth leader about the "chains" in our life. I went up to the youth pastor's wife to talk with her. I whispered something in her ear.

"Are you sure?" She asked me.

I nodded my head and held back tears. I went back to my seat after she prayed with me and I kept my head down. A lot of people were up and about praying with leaders, crying or praying with friends. It was hard to look at. I didn't dare search for Justin. I spotted Taylor who was crouched on the ground in the front of the room. I could hear her cries as my group chaperon held her. I had a pretty good idea that she was talking with her about her mom. See, her mom ended up passing away literally the week before we left to come here. I knew tonight's message was the hardest for her. Gracie was with her as well so I stayed where I was. I knew she was being taken care of.

I did end up looking around the room after some time. I spotted Demi across the room from me. She had been sitting with Taylor and Gracie while I was with Megan. She was still in her chair much like me and a few other people scattered around. She had her head down slightly and she looked sad from what I could read on her face. She was all by herself and no one seemed to pay her any attention I noticed. I got up from my chair and walked over to her. I stood behind her and leaned down. I wrapped my arms loosely around her neck and whispered in her ear.

"I love you."

She turned and smiled at me lightly. She got up and came around to where I stood and wrapped her arms tightly around me in a hug. After a moment she started speaking but the music in the room was so loud I couldn't hear what she was saying. I continued to hug her not letting go though as she spoke. As she kept talking I didn't know if she was praying, telling me a story or what. I was fairly sure she wasn't crying since her body wasn't shaking bit I didn't loosen my grip on her. I rubbed her back a couple of times as she spoke.

After a good 5 or so minutes of us hugging and her talking, she released me. I watched her quickly wipe away a tear so I instinctively hugged her again.

"I love you." I said again.

"I love you too." We let go again and by then we had to get back to our seats.

The youth pastor spoke a little more but I was no longer paying attention. I had a lot on my mind and I had made a decision a very important one. It was all based on what we had talked about tonight. I just hoped I would be able to follow through with it.


End file.
